%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  I travel the country on business, sometimes the world. Come see where I've been. |
|
Talk about perks, my job has one of the best ones I can think of! I travel in the course of business, delivering classes for my employer. I am a Senior Training Specialist for Motorola Solutions, and teach classes on a wide variety of subjects centered around 2 way radio communications. I'm qualified to deliver approximately 30 different classes, but about half of those are 'Legacy' classes, and are not in demand anymore. My students are technicians, those who maintain, program, calibrate, and repair large 2-way radio systems. Some of these systems are statewide, and use TCP-IP networking to allow sites to communicate with others. Some are small, traditional type radio sites. The size doesn't matter, in each case the systems must be kept operational at all times, since many of them are Public Safety Systems. So I get to travel, sometimes frequently, 3-4 weeks in a row.... where am I this week? This probably won't have daily entries, but I will make entries when I get to go somewhere, and keep an updated list of coming trips. My schedule changes faster than the weather, so don't be too surprised to see me list an upcoming class, only to remark later on that it is cancelled, or delayed. Delays are fine of course, but a later date might mean that someone else gets to go instead of me,,, Well, here we go with this, let's see where it takes us.  Best Cultural And Regional Honorable Mention |
| Date: Week of January 14th Locale: Yakima, Washington This week finds me in Yakima, Washington for a class with the Washington State Patrol. Yakima sits in Central Washington in the middle of wine country. It's in a valley with small mountains surrounding it. This class was one of those short two day ones, and was pretty interesting. Let me explain I arrived on Sunday so the local Motorola Tech and I could meet with the customer to ensure classroom logistics were set, and we were ready for the class. I anticipated an hour long meeting or so, but it lasted 4-5 hours! Now, there was some time spent just gabbing, you know how people can be. But it was also good in that I learned how they are using this particular software, and realized I couldn't deliver the class as I usually did. So, a little thought, a bit of adjustment, and I delivered it with a new approach. This is because they have things set up a little differently than most customers. It's hard to explain without showing you the course, and I think most of you would be bored to tears quickly. The first day of class was 'interesting' to say the least. We were discussing the basics of the software before really diving into it. and one of the guys was having a hard time understanding a key concept. I listened to his questions and assumptions, and started to address each one. But every time I started to say something, he'd interrupt me. Finally he said he would learn it on his own, and that I should continue. I wasn't angry with him, but I decided I'd had enough of that kind of stuff, so I explained to him in no uncertain terms that I had listened to him very courteously, and that now it was his turn to listen the same way. Once again he started to interrupt me, so I told him to be quiet for a moment and listen. I don't like being that assertive with students, but sometimes you have to set limits, and make sure they understand who is the instructor, and who is the student. On the next break, at least three other students thanked me, explaining that his man does something like this every class. The rest of the class was uneventful, and went fairly smoothly. For some reason, as I was leaving them Thursday, most of them clapped. I still wonder if they were clapping because I was leaving, of if they clapped as a way of saying 'Thank you'.  Noteworthy Restaurants: Los Hernandez Tamales http://www.loshernandeztamales.com/41-2/ I've been craving authentic Tamales recently, tried some here and they just didn't measure up. This place has some excellent tamales though, I know I should have gone back. In Closing I will spend this week at home before getting out of the winter and spending two weeks in Phoenix Arizona!. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE!  Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of December 31st Locale: Central Illinois I'm home for the third week in a row, and frankly, I'm going a little stir crazy. That's not entirely true, but I do feel an itch to travel again. A week from Sunday I will head to Yakima for my next field class, and teach a class on line here at home next week. Would send some of you the link to it (could log in with just your name provided), but I know my boss wouldn't like that, plus you'd get very bored quickly. I've spent the past two weeks (and this week) working on a class called 'Network Essentials'. As I've stated in previous entries, I haven't taught this in about 6-7 years, and it's been changed greatly since then. So I've been learning the new course materials, as well as familiarizing myself with the new equipment. We use HP 2620 switches, and Cisco 2811 Routers in this class. For those of you who aren't into this kind of thing, Switches and Routers reside in your Internet Service Provider (ISP) distribution centers. Servers and other devices connect to these. Servers contain the webpages (Like WDC) that allow us access to websites, the routers and switches router us around the Internet so we can view these millions or webpages. People with far greater skills than I have modify these webpages (Think The StoryMaster   here). In this class, we teach the basic knowledge of networking. What's a MAC address, IP Address. What is DHCP, and a routing protocol called OSPF. We don't go in depth on anything though, because we're not teaching these technicians to a CCNA level, just how to perform basic tasks. So, I've been teaching myself how to do everything in the lab book for this class. Along the way, I've learned what not to do, and what is seen when you don't do tasks correctly. In the end though, I've done everything in the lab book, and completed the steps correctly. I only had one thing I couldn't figure out, and have asked the instructor who wrote this manual for help. I'll have an answer soon I know. He has real life family issues right now, so it may be a couple of days. What couldn't I get to work correctly? I configured each router (I have three I'm working with) for OSPF (Open Shortest Path First). What's that mean? It means the router will send out (broadcast) Ethernet packets, advertising it's 'existence', and what paths are on it. I verified the paths exist, I can see the paths when I run a command on the router, but I cannot ping the other devices like I should be able to. I am not too concerned, I've been through the lab manual and the Powerpoint slides in detail, and know I am ready to deliver this class.In Closing I will spend the week finishing my studies on this class, teach a different subject on line next week, then another different subject in Yakima the week of January 13th. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of December 10th Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois Well, nice to be back home again, though I don't think I've ever thought of the Chicago area as home. The Motorola campus has changed so much in the last 2 years, hard to call this home now. 'Our' campus was sold to developers, only the building we're in (the old Corporate Tower) is the only one left that Motorola Solutions occupies. The others are slowly being demolished, and who knows what this whole area will look like in five years? I am here teaching a 'resident' class, and it's nice to see people I rarely see now. It's a class I haven't taught in 19 months, but it went well. Amazing how things come back to you so easily once you've done them a few hundred times. I have to relearn a few things, and improve my knowledge in others for an upcoming class in Phoenix the last week of January, and the first week of February. Yep, right in the middle of winter, I get two weeks in Phoenix!  We also had a Pot Luck Lunch for the whole floor on Thursday; I contributed a Pork Green Chile Stew/Soup that was really very good. Many people loved it, and I had less to take home than I thought I would. Like all pot-luck meals, there was more there than you could shake a stick at. I had fun sampling on my lunch hour, and felt it was a good thing I was teaching, so unable to be upstairs all day munching! In Closing I have the next FOUR weeks to spend at home, and will spend some of my time studying/preparing for those Phoenix classes. The course I will teach has been changed quite a bit, new equipment added, so there's a lot to learn. Luckily, they let me bring home three HP switches, and three Cisco routers (the kind of things that make the Internet work!), and 'play' with them getting used to their command line interface, configurations, and how to back up and restore them. The switch isn't a problem, it's the Cisco stuff I really need to learn. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Merry Christmas To You All And Those You Love. May you be truly blessed this holiday season, and every day in the coming years. My Love to you all. Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of November 26th Locale: Mildenhall, England This week finds me staying in Mildenhall, England while working at the nearby RAF Lakenheath. It's been quite the experience this week, in more ways than one, The class itself was a good one, excellent students and a lot of hands on activities that technicians like this love. The journey here was quite different, as has been my stay. Let's look at each of those individually. First things first. The flight here. All was well, even with a 1.5 hour delay at O'Hare for a minor mechanical problem. When we travel internationally like this, we have to book our trip through American Express Travel instead of making the reservations ourselves. A nice added bonus, is that since the total travel time was over eight hours, I could be booked in Business class. A very nice thing! Then, reality hit when I arrived. I had decided not to rent a car, I just couldn't see me driving on the 'wrong side' of the road, sitting on the 'wrong side' of the car! So I used trains to get me to Cambridge, which took about 3 hours. From there, a cab to my beautifulspaciousancient, but perfectly 'old world', hotel. And I do mean old world. Secondly, about that hotel. My parents always said that if you can't say anything nice about something, be quiet. So I won't bad mouth this hotel, but I will tell the truth. The room is small, very small. The TV is mounted on a bracket in the corner, and its screen is barely larger than my laptop. I've not used it. The room itself is quite warm, it is clean, relatively so. Freshly vacuumed every day, bed made, all that. It's just that there's barely room to walk around the bed to get to this desk. It too, is small. Can you tell I'm spoiled by past travels?? The kicker is the bathroom. A triangular shaped tub, it sits about ten inches off the floor. All electrical in the bathroom is turned on by one of five pull strings. Yes, there's even one to power on the box for the shower. It really is quite the set up. Fortunately, there are several restaurants around town, and the food is good. So I've not gone hungry at least, though since I'm trying to lose some weight, maybe I shouldn't find them, huh! The awakening moment really came on Monday when I started to head to work. I went downstairs (no elevators in this 300-400 year old hotel), and the lobby was completely dark, with all the doors bolted shut. I called several taxi services (it's five miles to RAF Lakenheath), but all were busy on school runs? I finally found one, and got to work on time. Still, it was very strange having that much trouble getting a taxi to pick me up. Luckily one of the students took pity on me, and drove me to and from after that. Other than that, it's been a great week!  In Closing I will spend the weekend at home, then be in Chicago for a couple of days. One of my friends just celebrated his 35th year with Motorola, so the boss is taking us all to his favorite restaurant Wednesday night. The following week, I'm in Chicago for class. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of September 19th Locale: Home! This week is Thanksgiving week here in the U.S., and as usual, I'm home. That's fine of course, can't think of many other places I'd rather be during a week like this. Of course, there's Hawaii (was on Maui for 'business' the week of Thanksgiving in 2013. Wonderful!) Not many others come to mind immediately though. While I am off this week, it doesn't mean I'm not working. I'm not working hard, nor a lot, but I am working. Will count this week as Paid Time Off (PTO). I have a lot to be thankful for, always do. But this time of year, I sit back and relax, and think of what I'm thankful for. First and foremost, my health. I suffer from typical ailments that a 64 year old person suffers from, I take too many medications for my comfort, but am told (I'm not totally convinced on some of this), that they are necessary. Secondly, my career. I was very lucky to get this job almost 18 years ago, especially since I really wasn't fully qualified for it. I'm even more thankful though, because we were told last week that we'd lost two of our instructors to a 'forced retirement'. I wasn't one of them (Thank God for that! I'm not ready to sit back and relax yet), but really feel for whoever it was. Yep, that's right, we don't know who was asked to retire, we only know that two of us were. We'll find out eventually. I have my suspicions on the names of the instructors, but that's all they are. We'll see if they are correct suspicions or not some day, huh... So why am I working during a week I will mark down as PTO? First, I get five weeks PTO each year, but for us, it's take it, or lose it. All too often I lose about three of those weeks during a years time. How you ask? Well, for me, traveling is like a vacation. I'm somewhere else, I'm on their dime, I'm treated well, and get to see new places/meet new people! So it's like a mini-vacation Secondly, things need to be done, studying has to happen, preparation for upcoming classes needs to be done. I'm home, so does it really matter if I'm on my home PC or my work PC? Not in my opinion. I have two courses I'll deliver in the next couple of months that I have not delivered in quite a while. Changes have occurred to the course materials for each of them, so I have to become reacquainted with them. I'm doing that this week, I will do it for a couple of days the first week of December, and will do more over the Christmas/New Years Holiday weeks. Like I said at the start of this entry, I'm healthy, so life is good. What's ahead in 2019? Right now, I'm scheduled to go to Washington State the middle of January, Phoenix Arizona the last week of January and first week of February, Montrose Colorado the last week of February, and somewhere in Texas the first week of March. Sandwiched in with all that, is a class in Schaumburg, and a class taught on-line. But, my schedule can change at the drop of a hat, so I may find myself in different places when those weeks actually get here. We'll see what the future holds, huh! In Closing I get to spend Thanksgiving at home, but will fly to England on Black Friday for a class at RAF Lakenheath next week for the US Air Force. No shopping for Jim that day! We'll see how well I do driving on the other side of the road! Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of November 12th Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois This week back in Schaumburg to deliver what we call a 'resident class. For someone who is a 'remote instructor', I sure seem to spend a lot of time here. Especially recently. Yep, I was up here last week, but only for a day. I worked on that small Conventional RF System, but got no where at all. The main reason was the computer I was loading Windows 10 on. When you place the CD in the drive and reboot the PC, it's supposed to go into a setup routine, and load Windows. It should get to a screen that gives you a choice on loading Windows 10 home, or Windows 10 Pro. I needed to load the Pro version. Well, on this particular PC, it never gets to that screen. It just loads Windows 10, but it's the Home version! Can't have that on this PC for a couple of reason. End result? I left, and the support crew will use an 'Image' of another PC just like this one, and load Windows that way. I came back to Schaumburg this week, ready to deliver this Basic RF Class. Along with this, I needed to get that PC loaded with the correct software, and the stuff I don't need (want) on it removed. I also had to figure out why we couldn't access the system's SNMP Manager. Figured I had my work cut out for me. Removing software was the easy part. Installing the software I needed wasn't too hard either, I've done that many times. Then I tackled that SNMP Manager issue. I tried to open it using Internet Explorer like we had in the past. No luck, it never went to the home screen. I fiddled around a little more, and honestly have no idea what I did, but suddenly the home screen was there. But I still couldn't log on! All it would do, was save a file with the date, and a name/IP address for the Virtual Machine I was trying to access, and it had a JNLP extension, one I'd never seen before, A co-worker was nearby, so I asked him about it. He explained what I needed to do, and we did that, Still no go. So I putzed around a little more, upgrading some software, and walked around. It was then I realized I hadn't renamed this computer yet. This is such a small system that it doesn't have a DNS Server. It uses the 'Hosts' file (which every PC has (C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) to substitute as one. I renamed the computer to match the contents of the Hosts file, and did a few more things. The PC needed to be rebooted because of the name change, so I did that. Once it rebooted, I decided to try one more time to access the SNMP Manager. And it worked!! I was so thrilled, I about danced a jig! So, my biggest problem is fixed, and now we can teach classes on that system once again.... On top of all that, I'm teaching a class this week, so I can only get things done when on break, at lunch, or after hours. I left work at 6pm last night... In Closing I will spend next week at home, but will fly out on Black Friday, heading for a class in England! Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of Octorber 29th Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois This week I'm in Schaumburg. Again. <Groan> Okay, not really groaning, but since moving to Central Illinois, I have gotten used to a more laid back lifestyle. Coming north to Schaumburg is a completely different world! The reason I'm up here this week is not to deliver a class, but to 're-learn' one, so-to-speak. This class was heavily revised 4-5 years ago, with new equipment added. Plus, I've not delivered this class in 7-8 years, and am scheduled to deliver it three times in four weeks at the beginning of 2018. Thus, time to study and learn. Again. This is a basic Networking Class. Our modern radio systems use TCP/IP Networking to connect remote radio sites to a 'Master Site', or Core. The technicians who maintain these systems need to know how to troubleshoot networking issues, as well as replace a network switch or router when one fails. This class covers topics like that, and uses generic network equipment that is not really specific to our systems. We have an additional class that covers our systems, the IP addressing used, as well as system operation and maintenance. That course I still deliver, but have not taught it since July 2018. Why, or how is it that I can go so long without delivering it? Well, when I came to Motorola, for some reason, I learned a wide variety of courses that contain different technologies and such. Most instructors deliver a few courses that are connected. You know how it is. The Hip Bone connects to the Thigh Bone, the thigh bone connects to the knee.... What I'm saying is, my courses seem to jump around, and I'm scheduled to deliver what is needed. Plus, there are about 6-7 of us who deliver that particular networking course, so it's easy to find yourself 'off on a tangent' in delivery. But, it's all good, a job I love, and I'm still employed!I was here last week delivering a class, and in the process discovered that 'we' (most probably me) made a small mistake when we upgraded a small system recently. Why do I say me? Because I'm the one who did the upgrade, and installed all the software on this computer. Anyway, I ended up installing two databases on this PC, both of them SQL databases, And as Murphy would have it, the two databases don't play well together. What I really mean is, they use the same Ports on the PC, and cause conflicts. Right now, I can't open one of the databases, and that's the one I really need. The other is nice to have, but not really necessary on this system. As a result, I will come back here next week for a day or so, and completely reload that computer. Yep, I'll reload Windows 10, install upgrades, 'harden' the operating system, and make it work again. After that, I'll be back here the following week to deliver another class, a basic RF theory class. In Closing I will spend the weekend at home, be here part of next week, and the following week. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of October 15th Locale: Toronto, Ontario, Canada This week finds me in Toronto, Ontario for another class with the Toronto Police Services. Half my students were in classes I delivered for them a couple of years ago, so it was like seeing old friends in some ways. I enjoy visiting Toronto, but I don't enjoy the traffic. My documentation showed the class would be at one address, but when I went there Monday, it was back where I'd been the previous two classes. All was well though since I'd left a little early as I usually do the first day. The class itself went fine, but there were a few hangups with software. There was a new release of the software (the same one that caused me such problems installing it on my laptop), and the laptops we shipped for the class didn't have the software completely installed. Installing it was easy enough, but that is something that shouldn't have happened. Once we finally had things properly installed, everything went smoothly, and I managed to show them many things that will help them in the future. This software is totally new to them, so getting them comfortable with it and what it does was the most important to me. Noteworthy Restaurants: Turtle Jacks https://turtlejacks.com/menus/?location_menu=729 Well, I ended up dining here twice. Not because it was great (It was very good, but far from great, not too close to excellent), but because it was windy, wet, chilly, and ugly outside on those two nights. This restaurant was connected to my hotel, making it easy to get to. Their Shrimp Gyoza was good, but a little overcooked. I really enjoyed their Garlic Caesar Salad.The Keg https://www.kegsteakhouse.com/locations/dixon-road-keg/#!/menu-detail/?id=14961&parent=5/#siteContent This too was very close to my hotel, walking distance in fact. It's not a place I'd go to often, but again, it's proximity to the hotel made it worth it. I loved their Baked Brie with Pesto and Pepper Jelly. As you can tell, I was eating smaller portions on this trip, and this was excellent! In Closing I will spend next two weeks in Schaumburg, one week teaching a class, the next I will be a student to learn this one all over again. It's been 6-7 years since I've delivered it, and there have been massive changes to the curriculum. The best thing that happened this week (besides returning home safely) is that I got a call from my scheduler, telling me she will be sending me to RAF Lakenheath in England in December! Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of October 1st Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois Ho hum, another week in Schaumburg. Except I'm not delivering a class, I was cross training for a new one. I didn't get near enough done if you ask me. but there were a couple of extenuating circumstances that kept me from maximizing this cross-training opportunity. First off, my mentor had quite the schedule last week. We were going to work Tuesday and Wednesday on this course, but it's hard to get things done with someone on those hours. I won't say more because I don't want to air this too much 'in public'. But there was so much more we could have done. Secondly though, is that there was a new release for a radio programming software. The other guys who teach that class loaded it weeks ago. I tried a few weeks ago too, but my anti-virus found a virus in the load process. Since this is Motorola developed software, that's not too likely, but there it was. I tried loading it last week after getting a new hard drive earlier, still the same thing. We sent a message off to the team that writes the software, and it turns out this was a known issue. Symantec recently updated their anti-virus software, adding a new scheme to look for viruses, along with their 'old' stuff. Turns out, the new scheme would flag this software during the installation. This was more of a sidetrack to the training effort than the lack of hours. i ended up having to have the IT department uninstall the corporate anti-virus so I could install the program. Once installed, every was fine, and it was. This shouldn't have been an issue, but it was. Our software team is working with Symantec to add an exception to the anti-virus search engine to this doesn't happen in the future. And to top it all off, I was (am) working from home this week, and could not log on to the Motorola network via the VPN! More work with the IT department, a slew of e-mails between me and one of their techs, and most of a day doing that. End result, I have a new 'VPN Thin Client' that will be sent out in the near future. So, I have a head start on everyone else! Needed to access the Motorola network so I could get my expense reports completed. And now, I owe that IT Technician a cup of coffee, should we ever be in the same location at the same time. She works out of Phoenix, so it may happen. Not going to hold my breath though...In Closing It was a very interesting week in Schaumburg; I'm left with needing yet more time on this course. What I really need is time spent with the software, learning all its ins and outs. That will require more time in Schaumburg. That, or get the equipment here so I can work with it at home. Next week I will be in Toronto once again. Will be nice and chilly there, I'm looking forward to it. Till then, write all you can, and love those who love you. Jim Dorrell |
| Date: Week of September 24th Locale: Springfield, Illinois This week it's almost like home for me. I'm 70 miles south along I-55 in Springfield, Illinois. It's a short class, only 2 days in length. Springfield is a nice town/city, but not really a place I'd want to live. Why? No reason really, other than my heart is in New Mexico. After two weeks in Colorado, and a weekend in the Four Corners area, I really want to move there. The class itself went fine, but it was too short. Not long enough to really get to know the city, nor the students. And with only two nights there, (yes, I stayed in a hotel only because I hate driving an hour to get to work), I didn't have a chance to explore much or find excellent restaurants. However, it is the home of Abraham Lincoln's start in politics, and has several sites you should see if you find yourself there. I do want to say that on the first day of class, several students and I went to a place that serves the 'best Chili in Springfield'. To say it was a major disappointment would be a gross understatement. Greasy, oily, not very well spiced, mostly 'blah'.... Historic/Interesting Places Visited: Lincoln Home National Historic Site https://www.nps.gov/liho/index.htm This house is where Lincoln lived while practicing law in Illinois. It was also here that he started his presidential campaign. It's worth a tour, worth the time, if you're a History Buff, or even just interested in Lincoln. In Closing I will spend the weekend in Wisconsin visiting friends, then spend a week in Chicago improving my knowledge of new subjects, and hopefully being able to teach one of them after this week! Till then, write all you can, and love those who love you. Jim Dorrell |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
Enjoy!
I then went to Taiwan for two weeks; but, although that was nice, it wasn't 'home'. 
